[Dave Smith]

I gather from rec.photo.digital that the CP4500 has been discontinued but has not yet been replaced.

I was planning to upgrade my CP880 to CP4500 at the end of this month. Any advice as to whether I should rush out and try to get one of the remaining ones or hold fire and hope for a better new model, would be very welcome.

I have recently purchased the TC-E3 ED 3x teleconverter which does fit a CP4500 but not the new CP5400 or CP5700.

Dave

[Andy Bright]

I read that thread as well. Although it's not always wise to pay too much attention to posts like that (heard it from someone else), it wouldn't surprise me if the cp4500 hasn't been in production for a few months now.
Talk of cp4700...... someone suggested that would be a 4mp camera as well bercause of the 4*** model number, not so sure myself.
May as well hold on for the time being, Dave ..... probably firmer news in the next month. Nikon like releasing several new models at once.

[martinow]

Lovely - got my 4500 on Tuesday !!!

C'est la vie

Martin

[HelenB]

Dave,
I'm interested in finding out more about the TC-E3 ED 3x teleconverter you mentioned - is there a website I can browse? I'll probably be over in the UK later on this year visiting my parents, if its not easily available over here in the States.

Interesting rumour about the CP4500 being discontinued. I've seen it on sale twice recently in the US with a $300 reduction (instant $100 from the store & a $200 rebate from the manufacturer). Go figure!

[Dave Smith]

Helen
I don't know a better website to seek information on this than this one. I did a search on "teleconverter" in the forums and it brought up 43 threads and doing a search on TC-E3 in the gallery brings up 11 photos taken through one.
If you want a better view of one than is given on camera review websites then I would happily take some photos and send them to you.
I hope this helps.

[HelenB]

Thanks, Dave. Did some searching and found a USA supplier - Ritz Camera. They're selling it at $259.95 mail order, so I'll take a look at it at my local retail store, first. Mail order over here is often cheaper, as you don't pay sales tax if the item is being shipped from another state, & Ritz offers free shipping on orders over $100.

[Joe A.]

I heard from my camera dealer the $200 mail-in rebate for the 4500 ends at the end of this month. That could possibly coincide with the announcement of new 4.x line. It seems to me that $499 (or $399) is a great price for a very good camera, and while a new entry would undoubtably have more features it will come with a premium price. (I heard the trend is toward interchangable lenses and of course more pixels.)

IMHO, for the budget-conscious 'birder,' the 4500 is a great bargain.

[Tannin]

Hmmm... This afternoon I buy a CP4500, ten minutes after getting it home, I hear it's about to be discontinued! That is a sense of timing! The interesting question remains: assuming it will soon be discontinued (which does seem reasonable, seeing as it's been out a fair while), will the replacement be better? Or, from a digiscoping point of view, not so good? I guess it doesn't matter now - not to me, at any rate, as this month I've spent my photographic budget for about the next 17 years! For better or worse, the 4500 is going to have to do the job for quite a while.

[Joe A.]

Now that's the right attitude, Tannin!

[paulsnokia]

According to Nikon UK the 4500 is still on going, however the camera was reduced in price from £ 599.00 to £ 529.00 (RRP) so it might be that Nikon may want to introduce a new model in the near future.
They have launched the new 5400 so could just be product re-positioning.

Either way the camera is a good bit of kit :-)

[stevo]

Hi Paul

When I went into LCE about 3wks ago they said they were having trouble getting stocks of the CP4500.Since then i`ve seen this camera priced at £469.00.Often the price comes down when retailers are clearing out stock ready for the new models to come in.

Regards Stevo.

[stevo]

Thanks for that Paul,I was looking on www.warehouseexpress.com , earlier this evening & it`s priced at £439 for the standard kit.

Regards Stevo.

[normjackson]

I think I found one of those in my cereal this morning

Wonder if you've checked :

http://uk.pricerunner.com/photograph...cameras/browse

I've found the customer reviews quite helpful.

[paulsnokia]

Hi Stevo, is it the UK kit or an import? be careful :-)

[paulsnokia]

BTW, I know a certain mail order (internet) supplier got caught out with imports.
its worth checking.

TTFN

[stevo]

Hi Paul

The website I gave you says all their stock is genuine UK imports & not GREY imports.I have ordered things from them before without any problems.

Regards Stevo.

[RonClark28]

Only just looked at this thread coz we have just ordered a CoolPix 4500. They are still about. Jessops and Jacobs in Birmingham still have them in stock but we ordered ours from Currys coz we have a store card with them. They also 'price matched' our order with Jessops in Coventry. What surpised me, although I suppose it shouldn't really, is that I saved £100 on it by pointing out the price difference.

[digi-birder]

I had my Canon G3 price-matched with the Amazon price at Jessops saving £130 on Jessops' normal price. It's always worth asking wherever you buy from, after doing the research of other retailers' prices. Some places may not price match Internet prices though.

[Joe A.]

Nikon (USA) continues to promote the 4500 and a $200 mail-in rebate, which lowers the price to $499. The rebate expires, according to Nikon, on June 30th, 2003.

http://www.nikonusa.com/usa_rebates/coolpix.jsp
http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/coolpixrebate.pdf

[Dave Smith]

Andy said

May as well hold on for the time being, Dave ..... probably firmer news in the next month. Nikon like releasing several new models at once.

I have finally decided that I cannot wait any longer and bought my 4500 today. My first impressions are that it is certainly living up to my expectations.
The features I like compared with the CP880 are
1. The twisting body. That has really frustrated me on the 880.
2. 4x zoom instead of 2.5x
3. Close up 2cm which does work with manual focusing (cf 4cm)
4. I will enjoy the 5min bulb setting for astro work.
5. A full range of apertures instead of just two.
6. Inspite of its size I prefer the screen to that on the 880.
7. No need for the adapter ring.

I bought it from CPW (Colchester Photographic Wholesale) for £469 which included the basic kit plus an EXTRA 64Mb card and an EXTRA battery. I thought that was a fair price together with them being fairly local should there be any problems. BTW they only had one more in stock.

Dave

[cspratt]

According to the shop in Victoria, BC (Canada) where I bought my 4500 last March, Nikon haven't informed them that the 4500 is being discontinued anytime soon. I ask them today when I was in the shop looking at carbon fibre tripods.
The shop manger said that he sells lots of 4500 every week. He's also trying to sell me the Nikon D100 which is really pricey! The lens is also extra!

Chris. Spratt

[Joe A.]

Nikon is selling re-conditioned 4500s for $369.99 at their website, just navigate to Nikon Mall.

Joe

[stevo]

Hi all

You may be interested in this info on Mon 28/07/03 I telephoned Nikon UK to ask them if the cp4500 is to be discontinued?Their response is as follows:production has only temporarily ceased & will resume shortly,there are no plans to stop producing this camera, sales have been good,any plans to discontinue any camera models are communicated to the customer service team a week before any public announcement is made,plus I was told the internet is full of rumours & not believe anything until official word is posted on Nikon`s website.

Regards Stevo.

[yossi]

Rumors say that there's a replacement on the way. I spoke with someone that claims he have heard from an internal Nikon guy that there's a new camera coming this automn." 5 MP, similar swivel structure, new features, including RAW and some more". There's a small chance that it is true, like any rumors, but it makes sense to me. They have upgraded almost all their line, so why not the CP4500? Nikon did not stop production of any camera without a good cause, usually - a replacement.

[eric s]

Multiple stores that I have been to have said that the 4500 is gone. I'm quite annoyed because they extended the $200 rebate and then killed it before the rebate ended.

I wish they had already put out the replacement, because I'd consider it seriously. Very seriously. Now I'm stuck looking for something else before I head off on vacation. I need something simple to put into a pocket when my Canon 10D isn't right (like in a kayak.)

Eric